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Selfie
]] A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. Selfies are often shared on social networking services such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr. They are often casual, and are typically taken either with a camera held at arm's length or in a mirror. History in 1839]] Robert Cornelius, an American pioneer in photography, produced a daguerreotype of himself in 1839 which is also one of the first photographs of a person. Because the process was slow he was able to uncover the lens, run into shot for a minute or more, and then replace the lens cap. He recorded on the back "The first light Picture ever taken. 1839." The debut of the portable Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900 led to photographic self-portraiture becoming a more widespread technique. The method was usually by mirror and stabilizing the camera either on a nearby object or on a tripod while framing via a viewfinder at the top of the box. Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 13 was one of the first teenagers to take her own picture using a mirror to send to a friend in 1914. In the letter that accompanied the photograph, she wrote, "I took this picture of myself looking at the mirror. It was very hard as my hands were trembling." The modern concept of taking selfies as it is understood today largely originated from Nintendo's Game Boy Camera, released in 1998. It was the first digital camera marketed as a self-picture device, with its marketing campaign emphasizing taking self-pictures and sharing them with friends and family. http://tv.ibtimes.com/6-things-you-didnt-know-about-original-game-boys-15211 The concept of uploading group self-taken photographs (now known as super selfies) to the internet, although with a disposable camera not a smartphone, dates to a webpage created by Australians in September 2001, including photos taken in the late 1990s (captured by the Internet Archive in April 2004). The earliest usage of the word selfie can be traced as far back as 2002. It first appeared in an Australian internet forum (ABC Online) on 13 September 2002. }} Popularity The term "selfie" was discussed by photographer Jim Krause in 2005,Jim Krause, Photo Idea Index, 2005. page 148. although photos in the selfie genre predate the widespread use of the term. In the early 2000s, before Facebook became the dominant online social network, self-taken photographs were particularly common on MySpace. However, writer Kate Losse recounts that between 2006 and 2009 (when Facebook became more popular than MySpace), the "MySpace pic" (typically "an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait, often taken in front of a bathroom mirror") became an indication of bad taste for users of the newer Facebook social network. Early Facebook portraits, in contrast, were usually well-focused and more formal, taken by others from distance. In 2009 in the image hosting and video hosting website Flickr, Flickr users used 'selfies' to describe seemingly endless self-portraits posted by teenage girls. According to Losse, improvements in design—especially the front-facing camera copied by the iPhone 4 (2010) from Korean and Japanese mobile phones, mobile photo apps such as Instagram, and selfie sites such as ItisMee—led to the resurgence of selfies in the early 2010s.Kate Losse. The Return of the Selfie. The New Yorker. 5 June 2013 (Macaca nigra) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, who had picked up a photographer's camera and photographed herself with it]] Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider popularity over time. By the end of 2012, Time magazine considered selfie one of the "top 10 buzzwords" of that year; although selfies had existed long before, it was in 2012 that the term "really hit the big time".Steinmetz, Katy (4 December 2012). Top 10 Buzzwords – 9 Selfie, Time According to a 2013 survey, two-thirds of Australian women age 18–35 take selfies—the most common purpose for which is posting on Facebook. A poll commissioned by smartphone and camera maker Samsung found that selfies make up 30% of the photos taken by people aged 18–24.Melanie Hall, "Family albums fade as the young put only themselves in picture" Telegraph, 13 June 2013. By 2013, the word "selfie" had become commonplace enough to be monitored for inclusion in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. In November 2013, the word "selfie" was announced as being the "word of the year" by the Oxford English Dictionary, which gave the word itself an Australian origin. Selfies have also taken beyond the earth. A space selfie is a selfie that is taken in space. This include selfies taken by astronauts, machines and by an indirect method to have self-portrait photograph on earth retaken in space. In January 2014, during the Sochi Winter Olympics, a "Selfie Olympics" meme was popular on Twitter, where users took self-portraits in unusual situations. The spread of the meme took place with the usage of the hashtags, #selfiegame, and #selfieolympics. A selfie orchestrated by 86th Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres during the 2 March 2014 broadcast is the most retweeted image ever. DeGeneres said she wanted to homage Meryl Streep's record 18 Oscar nominations by setting a new record with her, and invited other Oscar celebrities to join them. The resulting photo of twelve celebrities broke the previous retweet record within forty minutes, and was retweeted over 1.8 million times in the first hour.#BBCtrending: Selfie at Oscars breaks retweet record. Bbc.com (3 March 2014). Retrieved on 12 March 2014.Ellen DeGeneres' Selfie at Oscars Sets Retweet Record, Crashes Twitter, pictured: Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Ellen DeGeneres, Bradley Cooper, Peter Nyong'o Jr., and, second row, from left, Channing Tatum, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o and Angelina Jolie. By the end of the ceremony it had been retweeted over 2 million times, less than 24 hours later, it had been retweeted over 2.8 million times. , it has been retweeted 3,400,395 times. It beat the previous record, 778,801, which was held by Barack Obama, following his victory in the 2012 presidential election.Hubbard, Amy. (2 March 2014) Oscars 2014, the year of the selfie: Ellen tweet grabs retweet record. Latimes.com. Retrieved on 12 March 2014. "Four more years" Barack Obama on Twitter, 6 November 2012. In April 2014, the advertising agency iStrategyLabs produced a two-way mirror capable of automatically posting selfies to Twitter, using facial recognition software.http://mashable.com/2014/04/10/selfie-mirror/ In popular culture * In August 2013, the Guardian produced a film series titled Thinkfluencer#Thinkfluencer episode 1: Selfies – video | Technology. theguardian.com. 29 August 2013. exploring selfie exposure in the UK. * American dance music duo The Chainsmokers released a single #SELFIE in 2014. * In March 2014, a no-makeup selfie meme was started in the UK in aid of cancer charities for women to take selfies without makeup.http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/no-makeup-selfie Psychology and neuroscience According to a study performed by Nicola Bruno and Marco Bertamini at the University of Parma, selfies by non-professional photographers show a slight bias for showing the left cheek of the selfie-taker. This is similar to what has been observed for portraits by professional painters from many different historical periods and styles, indicating that the left cheek bias may be rooted in asymmetries of brain lateralization that are well documented within cognitive neuroscience. In a second study, the same group tested if selfie takers without training in photography spontaneously adhere to widely prescribed rules of photographic composition, such as the rule of thirds. It seems that they do not, suggesting that these rules may be conventional rather than hardwired in the brain's perceptual preferences. In April 2014, a man diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder recounted spending ten hours a day attempting to take the "right" selfie, attempting suicide after failing to produce what he perceived to be the perfect selfie.http://guardianlv.com/2014/04/selfies-cause-narcissism-mental-illness-addiction-and-suicide/ The same month brought several scholarly publications linking excessive selfie posting with body dysmorphic disorder. References External links Category:Internet culture Category:Self-portraits Category:Words coined in the 2000s Category:Photographs by topic